Shakespeare’s plays were written over 400 years ago yet his writing still speaks to the 21st century audience, addressing big questions about the human experience. This pack helps you to engage your students with some of the issues, themes and ideas in Shakespeare’s plays, and to explore the ways they are relevant and current in our lives today, wherever we are in the world.
This Shakespeare Lives schools’ pack was created by the British Council in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company (the RSC). Inspired by the way actors and directors work at the RSC, many of the ideas and approaches use a theatre-based approach. The pack includes guidance for how to make this work in your classroom.
Specially designed to encourage learning across the curriculum, the resource is split into five key themes; Leadership and Power, Family and Relationships, Identity and Equality, Fate and Destiny, Justice and Rules. Throughout the pack, you can find a variety of participative activities for students aged 7-14.
These activities can be used as starting points in individual lessons, as elements of a cross-curricular project which could be carried out with a partner school overseas, or as standalone activities.